Psalm 107:17-22

Psalm 107:17-22

Some of you were sick because you'd lived a bad life,
your bodies feeling the effects of your sin;
You couldn't stand the sight of food,
so miserable you thought you'd be better off dead.
Then you called out to God in your desperate condition;
he got you out in the nick of time.
He spoke the word that healed you,
that pulled you back from the brink of death.
So thank God for his marvelous love,
for his miracle mercy to the children he loves;
Offer thanksgiving sacrifices,
tell the world what he's done—sing it out!

I have a friend who discovered last year that she has cancer.  She’s younger than I am, has two young daughters that she and her husband adopted.  She had the tumor removed, but was told that the cancer had spread to her lungs, and that the doctors weren’t sure if chemotherapy would get rid of it or not.  Her specific type of cancer can be resistant to treatment.  She started a regimen of weekly treatments with no idea if they would be effective or not.  She’s been sick, she’s been exhausted.  Her life has been turned upside down from her normal routine.  She is in a wilderness.

My work took me to her church one Sunday morning, and we started talking.  She said, “God has blessed me so much.”  And she meant it.  What my friend knows is that when you call out to God in a desperate condition, God is there.  It doesn’t matter if your wilderness is caused by an unexplainable fight against illness, or if it is created by addiction, or by violence.  In our wilderness, in our sickness, in our desperation, we can call upon God, and he will bring us home.

We are told in the Gospels that the Holy Spirit sent Jesus into the Wilderness.  I don’t wish that experience on anyone, but I’m grateful that Jesus has had it.  That he has felt lost.  Alone.  Separated.  I’m glad that he knows what it feels like.   I celebrate that you and I can call upon a Redeemer who knows what it means to be in the wilderness.